Begging For Change.

Beelzebub hacked as he cackled, spattering the table with half-chewed chicken and roasted potatoes. His beard wobbled. “They’re nothing more than insects, Hewah!” The God of Fire ran a hand through his wild black hair, doing more to send it sticking up at odd angles than to actually tame it with...

Server Log 54-C: “Art.”

Proxy Server: “Kilimanjaro” Communications link online - Micro-rift proxy signal - stable. Server load - 0%. Server booting. Waking drives from sleep. Server booting - ERROR, DRIVE 1 FAIL. Rebooting server. Server booting - ERROR, DRIVE 2 FAIL. Rebooting server. Server booting - ERROR, DRIVE 3...

Dave’s Itty Bitty Dilly Dally – A Storytelling Podcast.

I'm excited to announce a new podcast project today! This one is a bit personal to me, as it's a project I've been mulling over, off and on, for like half a decade now. So I'd like to introduce you all to "Dave's Itty Bitty Dilly Dally," a storytelling...

Hyko & Caylee.

“Liar.” He snorted with laughter, even as she folded her arms at him with a faux glare. The cool and refreshing summer breeze wafted in through the open windows, carrying the smells of cooking meat and the bustling city. Serenity the capital city stretched across all of Sanctuary’s largest...

The Pickup Truck Diaries: Education.

Now… I’ve been sitting on this one for a while. Almost a year, in fact. That’s largely because about a year ago I was in the middle of making my exit from the fucking gongshow that is public education in Canada.  And trust me - at least here in British Columbia?  Public education is a...

The Pickup Truck Diaries Redux: Breaking The Stigma, One Man’s Journey Through 20+ Years of Disability and Mental Illness.

(Author's Note: This article was originally published on Medium.com, but is being updated and uploaded here for your reading pleasure! I'll be updating and posting old articles under the "Pickup Truck Diaries" moniker now and again! This was originally published in the summer of 2019.) You never...

The Pickup Truck Diaries: Pacifism and Violence.

“I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgement, and I will do no harm or injustice to them. I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to...

The Pickup Truck Diaries: Accomplishment & Pride.

Welcome back, friends. Let’s do a little exercise together, right at the start of this one. Just you and me. I want you to pause, self-reflect, remember, and consider the last time you felt proud or accomplished. Interpret the scale or scope how you wish. Could be a single thing from just today,...

Server Scan – J&R Guild Shipping Manifest 48-5378.

A.I. Class 5 “Napoleon” Dataquery - Sample Section ROMcheck.  Pulling datasets… Pulling chat logs… Inventory maintenance subroutines - chatroom log. Begin sample size. Alfred: Yes, but I’ve simulated them dreaming. Bohemia: The REM cycles? Qualitant: I’ve jumped us a few proxies, just to be...

The Pickup Truck Diaries: Drugs & Addiction.

DRUGS! Scared yet? Expecting me to shit on addicts with the tired old trash of being lazy, weak-willed, or lesser-than? Fuck that. We all know how much stigma there is around the topic of drugs and addiction. It deserves to be spoken to. For education first and foremost. So… Fair warning about...

The Pickup Truck Diaries: Macroeconomics & Stock Market Corruption. (& A Little Bit Of Gamestop?)

Been sitting on this one for a long while. That’s primarily because this topic is so fucking massive and so fucking complex, that my piddly little three thousand word rough limit for these Pickup Truck Diaries articles isn’t enough. So for this one, I’m going to expand my limit to whatever feels...

The Pickup Truck Diaries: Disappointment.

If you’re expecting me to tell you not to be disappointed in this edition of The Pickup Truck Diaries, you’re going to be disappointed. Ha! After all, I come from a life of nothing BUT disappointment, in which being a strange neurodiverse person in a small town frequently made me an outcast....

The Pickup Truck Diaries: Right Wing Family, Ignorance, & Bigotry.

Everybody ready for the Thanksgiving Season?!? We get to gather around a table to enjoy a meal, say thanks, and listen to our boomer parents or extended family rant and ramble completely fabricated bullshit from a completely out of touch, ignorant, stubborn, arrogant, combative right wing...

The Pickup Truck Diaries: Media & Production.

It’s been a while, but welcome back! This time in The Pickup Truck Diaries, we’re going to take a look at the wide world of entertainment, news, media, and production! There’s a whole lot of nuance here, ranging from small-time indie internet sensations, to enormous corporate giants - long bought...

Playing The Long Game.

“No, Julian.” “But why not?” Her mouth pursed into a tight line, and shot the blonde, long-haired dandy a narrow-eyed glance. It was made all the more dramatic by her elegant makeup, dark eyeliner and mascara that brought out her pale complexion and ancient human features of seventy-six thousand...

The Pickup Truck Diaries: Organized Religion.

Ready to piss some people off? Good! Because so am I. See, I don’t really feel bad about annoying some of the most powerful institutions in the world. Some of them have dominated wide swaths of humanity for literally thousands of years, suppressing independence, science, and individuality. ...

Central Universe Science Fiction Shorts: An Update!

Campfire. Come gather 'round the campfire. Let me tell you a story. Several small ones, in fact! It started a month or two ago, when I had a bunch of hits on "Our Better Angels" via the 'ol analytics. Now, I've been running this little business for half a decade - so out of neurotic perfectionism,...

Lamentation Day.

A Special CNG Lamentation Day Bulletin: The Guardians of Destiny Remember! Lamentation Day: "The First Battle For Earth.”  Lamentation Day is officially marked as having occurred on January 16th, 1781, largely in orbit over the continent of Africa. Ceremonial services are still held to this...

Eclipse R&D Server Database: Cross-Reference Log 55G. “Empathy Drive Project.”

Cross-Reference Log 55G. "Empathy Drive Project." April 2nd, 2076CE: Portion of a discussion between A.I.s Qualitant(?) and Alfred(?).  BEGIN LOG EXCERPT: Qualitant: You know, the average software program for the average person ranged from one to one million lines of code in 2009. Alfred: Seems...

Guardian Communications Buoy – Serial Number: GD3007821

Guardian Comms Buoy - Serial Number: GD3007821 - Ping check. Guardian Comms Buoy - Serial Number: GD3007821 - Ping check complete. Guardian Comms Buoy - Serial Number: GD3007821 - High Latency Warning! Guardian Comms Buoy - Serial Number: GD3007821 - Additional Micro-Rifts Allocated. Fusion...

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Books

The Marionette Man

Life just isn’t easy in Central Universe if you’re not one of the immortal gods. As the only family related to a deceased navy captain serving The Guardians of Destiny, Arthur Brass and his mother lived a relatively quiet life. At least up until the day the G.O.D.’s secret police pushed just a little too far.

Brought up on unfair charges – with his execution suddenly looming, Arthur is soon forced to make a decision that will change the rest of his life.

In Central, everyone is a pawn of the ascended, and Arthur is about to find out the terrifying truth when it comes to the types of cruel games played by those who live forever…

The Marionette Man was my second published book, after my poetry book. It has a long and sordid history of signing to some publisher, then being dropped unceremoniously years later. Thus, it was rewritten no less than 4-6 times. The original drafts were in first person perspective, which were later rewritten again and again to third person, and “deep” perspective shortly after that. It’s a good first romp if you’re looking to learn about Central Universe and enjoy a good pulpy sci fi space opera. It’s also my first “real” foray into self-publishing! (Not to mention being the most overedited book of all history!)

The Paper Moon Gang

Greasy Knuckle is known as one of the slummiest and most corrupt planets in The Neutral Territories. Home to gangsters, mafiosos, pirates, and mercs, The Paper Moon Gang is only one of many smaller outfits in their neighbourhood of Silverton. When one of their pirate contacts, the murderous Yo-Yo, reaches out with the deal of a lifetime – a cache of valuable weapons stolen from the God Resistance Army itself, it’s just too good to pass up.

These small time gangsters have no clue what’s coming next.

The Paper Moon Gang was a fun little gangster romp through Central Universe. If you enjoy both gangster and science fiction, it should be right up your lane. Sometimes the most fun you can have is at the edge of all the ruckus, out in The Neutral Territories! I’d love to revisit these characters again sometime in the future, even if only as one of my cute easter eggs.

The Alphabet Of Hope

Alphabet of Hope is an anthology of stories written by members of the LGBTQ+ community from around the world. Hope is a precious commodity for teenagers trying to understand their identity, and these authors share their own accounts of trying to understand who they are, and how the world is going to treat them once they come out. Many stories show the evolution of legal and societal acceptance of queer lives and relationships and show that we can be accepted for who we are, and will inspire people to live more open, authentic lives.

I have a short piece in this anthology about being Demisexual called: “Demi Means Half.” I hope it can become a resource for educators, families, and more. I’m very glad Trevor reached out to me to participate, and hope my piece can somehow help other grey ace spectrum folks out there.

The Butterfly King & Other Poems For Self-Reflection

The Butterfly King and Other Poems for Self Reflection rings clear with purpose – and is filled with poetry steeped in the act of self-reflection. Centered around the titular heroic epic poem, which is written entirely in rhyming couplets – the book is further broken down into several different sections with dozens of poems, including nature and society, individual self-reflection, as well as love and sexuality.

This is my book of baby McRae poems. I say that because I wrote The Butterfly King when I was 18 or so. Many of the poems in this poetry anthology are from around that era, compiled almost a decade ago now. Back then I just wanted to prove myself by besting Coleridge in an act of some silly defiance by writing a better Heroic Epic. But looking back, it’s kind of nice to have an artistic time capsule from a time before I took my decade long break from writing.

Non Fiction

The Pickup Truck Diaries

The Pickup Truck Diaries is a non-fiction article series. Each article, I take on a topic or two at a time to explore them through my unique childhood lens. All those hundreds of hours in the bush had to be worth something, right? Coming from a logging background gives some world wisdoms and insights one might not expect. Expect some fairly heavy subjects in here, as well as some personal insights you don’t see in my other work. Trigger warnings all over the place for those sensitive to the topics I’m writing about in each article. I do try to keep each article to around roughly three thousand words, unlike my fiction work. We all have things to do and places to be, right?

Dave's Itty Bitty Dilly Dally

This project is pretty personal to me. I stole the name from an old show to create a family legacy podcast, with a goal of cataloguing my 63 year old father Dave McRae’s stories. It’s a storytelling podcast, where we ADHD-style meander our way through our strange histories. I’m treating this as a personal project, meaning there is no release schedule, no consideration for audience or demographic whatsoever, and it’s obviously pretty precious to me. Each episode will have a general one or two word topic to keep us on track, and we’ll be shooting for about an hour-ish for each episode.

The folks that have been following our strange family for a time will remember Dave as one of the main roles on “Ax Men Season 8.” Thus far, we’ve only put out one Episode on Spotify, as no joke Dave is currently working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s on Animals, with maybe more to come? 

The Brewery

The Brewery was our Casual EDH format Magic: The Gathering Show. Every week, we brewed up brand new Casual EDH decks to play against each other on Cockatrice based around a singular theme. The Project is currently on indefinite hiatus as of Summer 2023 as Tobin has decided to step away from the show for more privacy.

While Season 1 has mostly been lost to the ages – aside from a few pieces of raw footage hidden somewhere on my hard drives… All 50 episodes of Season 2 are still available, decklists included. You can find them on Youtube or Twitch. Most Episodes do run about 2.5 to 4-ish hours, so they’re a slow burn – play by play with lots of friendly comedy and some jabs here and there.

The little Pomeranian used for our classic alter photoshop photoshop is cast-member Joseph’s old Pomeranian, not the new ‘lil guy Toski that features on the show at times. RIP OG ‘lil guy. I do still have a presence on Moxfield, but I’ve taken a break from Magic: The Gathering for now due to the horrendous treatment upon the publishing of my “Rainbow Bible” from the CEDH community. Put a bad taste in my mouth for the whole game, despite being a passion on and off for like 20 years.

5th Edition TTRPG Resources

McRae's 5e TTRPG Item Resource

You can tell that I wrote most of my 5e resources before I came out as Non Binary. Please ignore my first name in these resources. I just go by “McRae” now.

This first 5e resource consists of 71 wacky and intriguing Magical items, many of them cursed or with a mix of pros and cons to ensure a more engaging story for players and DMs. There are a few special nods near the end to some of the more famous Dungeon Masters in the DnD Media scene, too!

While I originally developed this as a DM, both on my various DnD shows as well as home games, I’m sure players could utilize it in conversation with their DM to tell some awesome stories. Each item is annotated with a blurb by me, revealing playtest information, fun little comedy bits, or the like. Some of these items featured on my old mothballed DnD 5e show.

Please feel free to use these 5e resources for home games, live shows, or any other projects. Just credit me if you’re making money off it, please!

McRae's 5e Character Resource

You can tell that I wrote most of my 5e resources before I came out as Non Binary. Please ignore my first name in these resources. I just go by “McRae” now.

This one was originally designed with DMs in mind, consisting of dozens upon dozens of both player characters and non player characters I’ve played across various shows and home games. The goal was to produce a quick and dirty character resource for other DMs, to reduce a lot of their prep time down in regards to populating worlds or campaigns.

Upon reflecting further in the few years since I published this – I see no reason why a player couldn’t choose one of these characters to flesh out further and play as a PC with whatever build would make sense! I’d be honored if anybody out there played anything I’ve ever method acted, to take and transform and build upon in new ways!

I do have other resources, regions, cities, dungeons, and lots for my homebrew world and region of Karnifexia and Ghastheim – Featuring in a mothballed old show. Some of them are on DM’s Guild, but the maps I mostly keep for myself. Maybe I’ll do a project that brings it all back one day.

Please feel free to use these 5e resources for home games, live shows, or any other projects. Just credit me if you’re making money off it, please!

Other Work

Publications

Trash Culture MemoirsJimi Hendrix Poem Contribution https://trashculturememoirs.tumblr.com/

Spadina Literary Review – April 2020 – https://spadinaliteraryreviewarchive.com/SR36-Ver-02.html

Cotyledon – Vancouver Youth Poetry Charity Anthologyhttps://www.vancouverpoetryhouse.com/cotyledon/

Open Minds Quarterly Spring 2020 https://www.openmindsquarterly.com/

Teachers Pay TeachersA Plethora of Education Resourceshttps://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mcraewrites

On Camera & Audio

Ax Men Season 8 – Two Episode Bit Role (Self)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muUHOMhEPZs&ab_channel=HISTORY

You’re Listening To:” Music Podcast“Gorillaz – Demon Days”https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/demon-days-gorillaz/id1587941724?i=1000536900973

The Itty Bitty Dilly DallyGeneral Topic Podcasthttps://open.spotify.com/show/1LkawCf0OGGJWGQuYd6EuL?si=9dacc002dcb449d0

Something Wicked5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Homebrew Gothic Horror & Comedy Live Twitch Show + Podcast (Producer & DM) – https://open.spotify.com/show/7AvMg55V81mTO5RUb0UbU9?si=b909292f69974bb0 (I only have a couple highlight videos. Most of the show only available on Spotify as a Podcast.)

Another Bad Side Quest Podcast5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Podcast (Sassafrass)No Longer Available.

 

Magic: The Gathering Primers & Guides

“The Rainbow Bible” – (Longest Magic: The Gathering Resource Ever Written: A Record-Breaking 62,000+ Words.) Tribal Tribal & Rainbow Commander Resource + Rukarumel CEDH Primer – https://mcraewrites.com/mcraes-mtg-corner-the-rukarumel-gay-pirates-tribal-tribal-cedh-primer-aka-the-rainbow-bible/

“Siloing CEDH & EDH” – Basic “how to” to adjust power up or down in EDHhttps://mcraewrites.com/mcraes-mtg-corner-siloing-cedh-edh/

MTG “Tempo For Dummies” – The basics of tempo and some easy speed tipshttps://mcraewrites.com/mcraes-mtg-corner-tempo-for-dummies-especially-for-commander/

“Garth Loves Puss” – Garth One-Eye & Displacer Kitten Combo CEDH Primerhttps://mcraewrites.com/mcraes-mtg-corner-garth-loves-puss-a-cedh-primer/